


It's Only Natural (But Why Did It Have to Be Me?)

by jessequicksters



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Beach Holidays, Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Domestic Avengers, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Kissing, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Holidays, Kissing, Love Triangles, M/M, Misunderstandings, Multi, OT3, Party, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-06 00:47:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15875092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessequicksters/pseuds/jessequicksters
Summary: It starts when Sharon tries to set Tony up with Steve one night at a party. With the amount of History (with-a-capital-H) between the three of them, things were bound to get tangled up somehow.Sharon and Tony realize that they may be in love themselves, Tony tries to ask out Steve anyway, Maria Hill demands that someone, for the love of god, gives Steve a birthday kiss before the night is over. Lots of clueless flirting, drunken kissing, and many, many feelings are involved. They can definitely still make this work.





	1. Chapter 1

“I can’t do it,” Tony crosses his arms from the corner of the room, assessing the scene in front of him.

It’s unlike him not to be in the center of any enclosed space, especially on a big night like this: Steve’s birthday, to be precise. Tony had offered to help him host it, but Steve went with Natasha’s offer at her rather nice, but more modest, house. Tony doesn’t understand why Natasha-never-at-home-Romanoff has a house to begin with, but that’s a question for another day. There’s a barbecue going on outside, some drinks, music, and baseball on the television. It’s very Steve, and very Fourth of July.

“Maybe you’d see things more clearly once you took these off,” Sharon says patiently, gently sliding Tony’s sunglasses off from the bridge of his nose. She puts in on herself, the red tint on it clashes too much with her clean white dress. 

“Doesn’t suit you, give it back,” Tony says.

“We’re indoors and you don’t need this. Besides, don’t you think Steve would like it more if he could gaze into your beautiful brown eyes?”

This isn’t fair, Tony thinks. Sharon’s pretty much unreadable ninety percent of the time, and with those glasses on her, he’s lost any hope of trying to figure out what her angle is. Well, he knows her angle, just not the angle to her angle. She takes off the glasses and puts them in her purse, which she leaves on the table.

Truth is, they’ve been spending an awful lot of time together ever since Sharon quit the CIA. She went on to become their unofficial COO, because Ross trusted her and well, she wanted to be there, even before Steve came back to the Avengers. Tony knew they were still close during the period of time he went off the grid, and even when he didn’t want to talk to Steve at first, he wanted to talk to her.

Now, Steve and the rest of the previously ‘missing’ faction of the team had been back with them for nearly a year now and things were going as smoothly as they could, considering everything they’ve been through.

Tony had mended things with Steve, but the closer they got, the more Tony remembers why it had hurt so much when they were split apart.

He may or may not have been in love with Captain America all these years, and Sharon Carter may or may not have been egging him on to try to pursue this. From the post meeting-meetings they had together, or the late night phone calls (one time Sharon was deep undercover and yet she still had time for Tony’s questions about whether he was reading too much into Steve's behavior that week), or just the dinners Tony took her out on weekends because she was just an absolute doll to be around even when they weren’t talking about Steve.

They had known each other briefly when they were kids, before their families drifted apart, so it was nice to pick things back up in that area as well. Now, they’re both fully-grown adults, fighting over who gets the last New York cheesecake on the table.

“Aw, shit, my doctor told me to cut back on dairy,” Tony grumbled as he watched Sharon pick up the plate.

She seemed to be taunting him as well, digging her spoon right into the creamy delight, with a satisfying click against the porcelain at the end when she cuts into the crusty layer at the bottom. Sharon glides the spoonful into her soft pink mouth, savoring every last bit of it as she licks it clean.

“Survival of the fittest, Stark,” is all she says before scooping up another spoonful and raising her eyebrows at him. “Want some?" 

Tony pouts. Okay, one spoonful of a cake isn’t going to kill him. He probably needs the sugar rush, anyway, considering what he was about to do next. “Fine. Feed it to me, Agent Diabetes.”

Sharon pops the spoonful into Tony’s mouth. He has no regrets on that one. He lets out an obscene moan at the taste of it on his tongue, but Sharon seems to be too busy looking over his shoulder to chastise him for it. 

“Looks like Sam and Bucky just left. Tony! Here’s your chance.”

He doesn’t even have time to think until Sharon’s dragging him by the hand towards Steve leaning over at the bar, who seemed to be enjoying the brief moment of solitude after being the man of the hour. He quickly straightens up once he sees the two of them heading towards him. There’s a stiffness to him that Tony can’t quite explain. He hopes it’s nothing to do with him, at least.

“Slice of cheesecake?” Sharon offers, holding the plate up in front of her.

Steve chuckles and politely declines. “I’ve had far too many tonight. Are you guys okay? Sorry I haven’t had the chance to come over, there’s just, a lot of people to entertain. I don’t know how you do this all the time, Tony.”

“Just wait until you’re on your last reserve of beers for the night, all you have to do is sit back and watch,” Tony laughs. He’d planned to throw in a suggestive line somewhere in there, but somehow the words get stuck in the back of his throat. 

Sharon, being the super spy and super telepath that she is, tries to salvage the situation. “Hey, Steve. You mentioned that you were thinking of heading to the beach this weekend. Tony’s got a jeep, could fit enough stuff for even a camping trip.”

 _Camping?_ Okay, he’s taking back the reins on this one. Even Steve is looking at him with disbelief because everyone knows that _camping_ would be the last thing on Tony’s list of relaxing things to do on a free weekend.

“Is that what you two have been doing on weekends?” Steve smiles, but Tony sees it’s a little tense. He’s certain something else is going on here. 

“What—no, Sharon and I don’t go camping on weekends.” This must be a cruel joke on both their parts, a running gag that has been going for a minute too long.

“Oh, never mind, I knew you didn’t like the outdoors all that much, but I thought Sharon would’ve introduced you to the whole thing by now.”

“Why would Sharon ‘introduce me’ to the outdoors? I’ve been outdoors.”

“We used to go when we were…” Steve points at the both of them, and Sharon just stands there awkwardly, and the three of them are just standing around each other now. They should’ve all just eaten the damn cheesecake. Jesus. Tony can’t take this anymore. He’s just going to spit it out, and then Steve will reject him and everyone can just move on and go back to doing whatever it is they were doing before all of this started.

“You know what, never mind,” Steve interjects, rolling up his sleeves. “Sorry if I haven’t been very forward, but I was hoping that one of you would bring it up before… you know, the boys love to gossip. And Nat. Nat loves to gossip.”

“Excuse me?” Sharon says, genuinely confused.

“Uh, Steve…” Tony says, and he thinks he’s finally catching on to what Steve was saying because no, no, _no—_

Steve usually doesn’t ramble on this much, but when he does it’s when he’s really, really nervous, Tony has learned. Or when he’s desperately trying to fix a situation he can’t fix by punching something, or someone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, at all. Feel free to come join us this weekend on the beach. I mean, camping would be fun, too, I don’t mind. I just didn’t want it to be awkward for you guys if everyone kept asking about whether you two were an item or not and since you haven’t said anything, I figured you wanted to keep that private.” A pause, and then, “I hope I haven’t overstepped?”

Sharon just blinks at the floor, trying to bite down a smile. She nearly laughs but manages to keep it under control as she shakes her head and places a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You’re taking this one,” she says, eyes bright, as she massages his shoulder for encouragement.

Well, this is it, then. Damage control was Tony’s specialty, after all. “Steve, we’re not together and the reason we came over was because I was trying to ask you out on a date, god damn it.”

“What?!” Steve exclaims a little too loudly, as Clint and Scott looked up from the game on TV. He’s bright red now, but not in an aggressive way, actually. He’s struggling to meet Tony’s eyes, which makes Tony feel like at least he’s done something tonight, even if it’s something as small as slapping a blush across Captain America’s face.

The Yankees hit a home run and everyone’s attention turns back towards the TV, except for Natasha, who’s in the back garden (where most people are, thank god) but whose eyes are staring at them like a hawk in the night. It’s a little unsettling, but Tony tries not to think about it too much.

“Wait, I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Steve starts, hands flailing wildly. “You two aren’t together?”

“Oh my god,” Sharon says, eyes wide.

“God, no,” Tony says, eyes flickering to Sharon for a split second. He doesn’t know why he’s waiting for verbal confirmation on her part, too.

“But you two have been inseparable from the second I came back! You call each other on missions, you go out to nice restaurants every weekend—”

“—to talk about _you_ ,” Tony tries to explain.

“I told him you were a straight shooter,” Sharon says to Steve, and it feels like a more personal jab all of a sudden. She looks at Tony now, “Should’ve just told him months ago, now look what we’ve done. And to answer your question, Steve: no, Tony and I aren’t together.” 

That seemed cold. Tony doesn’t know what to think about that—yet.

Steve gives them a look that just spells out _I don’t believe you._ “Okay, I know for a fact that you guys don’t _always_ talk about me when you hang out. Like when we were on that mission in Prague and Sharon, you and I stayed on the Quinjet because you weren’t feeling so well, I remember you having at least a full hour conversation on a private line with Tony.”

“We were talking for at least _three_ hours on that jet, Steve,” Sharon says, with a bit more bite than playfulness in her tone.

“That’s because we had nowhere else to go! We had to sit there until the team got back.”

“And right after we got back to New York, I took _you_ out to the Museum of Modern Art, so as you can see, my affections were not solely directed at Sharon,” Tony adds, and he feels a headache coming along. 

This was a lot more complicated than he thought it would be, to be frank. He didn’t exactly have high hopes that it would be picture perfect, or whatever, but he definitely didn’t expect to be coming out of it feeling even more ambiguous about all parties involved. Maybe Sharon’s not as nice as she’s been this past—year? God, that can’t be right. Maybe he’s been reading her wrong, or he’s said something that pissed her off just now and he can’t for the love of god figure out what it was because he’s been trying to explain to _Steve_ how _he_ feels, who seems to have gotten this all _wrong_ , it’s just all _wrong_ and Tony and Sharon both know— 

Oh. Tony looks over to her all of a sudden. She’s been uncharacteristically quiet in this discussion. She usually gets quiet when she’s festering with a thought or two.

“Maybe I should let you two talk this one out,” Steve says.

“Yeah, maybe you should go check on the barbecue or something, make sure Bucky’s arm isn’t melting on the grill,” Tony says as Steve ducks out of the way, refusing to offer any comment on that last statement.

“The game ends in the next five minutes, so unless you wanna be on the sofa with Clint, I suggest we find ourselves someplace more private,” Tony tells her. There it is again, that unreadable look on her face. 

“I know where Nat’s bedroom is,” she cocks her head as they discreetly head up the stairs.

She closes the door behind them and runs her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face. Tony’s never seen her this stressed, not even after she got kidnapped on a mission once. It was a long story, but point is, Tony knew how to comfort her then, and he feels guilty as hell for not being able to do the same now.

“Hey, hey, if you don’t have anything to say then, likewise,” Tony starts, but he’s secretly hoping that she has more to offer than he does, at this point.

“He’s right, isn’t he?” Sharon asks, eyes dead set on him. Tony’s heart warms up when she finally smiles. “Even when he’s wrong, he ends up being right.”

“God, I hate him sometimes,” Tony blurts out.

“But you love him.”

“Maybe, if pining counts as love.” He tentatively reaches out to touch her wrist, and when she extends her arm out towards him, he takes that as a positive sign. Good. “I always thought it was nice, y’know, being able to have someone you feel unambiguous about.”

“I know,” she says, fingers reaching out for his as he lowers his hand to gently hold hers. His heartbeat starts picking up. It's not the first time they’ve held hands before, but previously it had been mostly for functional purposes (ie. dragging the other from one place to another, usually with the goal of reaching food, or running from an explosion or two). Now, this felt different.

“I don’t wanna screw this up,” Tony says. “Forget about Steve—we’ve got a good thing going, Sharon. I don’t exactly know what the protocol is for this love triangle we’ve set up for ourselves.”

She laughs then, a genuine, hearty laugh that has Tony releasing a little bit of steam too. He starts wondering whether she had ever thought about this, about them, the way (apparently) so many others found painfully obvious.

Under Natasha’s oddly dim lights, Sharon looks more beautiful than ever, the soft highlights on her face and blonde hair are like something out of a watercolor painting, and her eyes—okay, so, Tony’s looked at her eyes many a time before, but he’s never _seen_ her like this, doting and yearning for him as much as he’s curious to try this different side of her.

But he can’t bring himself to do anything. Tony fucking Stark, playboy extraordinaire, can’t do a single thing but hold her hand and look into her eyes like he has forever to spend in them, except, they don’t have forever. They very much don’t have forever.

“We should probably get back out there, you know, people might start talking,” he says to break the tension a little bit. Sharon doesn’t even look disappointed, just nods in agreement without breaking eye contact for a split second.

“I think it’s a little late for that, but you’re right.”

Tony shuffles over to reach the door handle and before opening it makes one last statement: “It’s not that I don’t want to, Sharon, I really do, it’s just—”

“Circumstances, I understand,” she smiles, and Tony wants to kick himself then and there. Maybe he was never in love with Steve in the first place? Maybe this was all some elaborate trick his heart played on him this entire time while he was building his affections for Sharon? Maybe, none of this meant anything at all and that love is only found in moments.

Maybe this is one of those moments.

Sharon’s already halfway out the door when Tony pulls her back in for a kiss. She swoops right into his body, hands on his shoulders as their lips press together. Sharon’s hands slide up to his jaw as she holds him in place, mouth going in for one last kiss, one last touch before they break apart once more.

Both of them are absolutely flushing red by the time contact breaks, and Tony feels the endless stream of dopamine shooting into his brain. Sharon also looks like she’s buzzing with a frenetic type of energy after the kiss, which is another positive sign. Very good.

“You’re sweet, Tony,” she says, grinning from ear to ear. He isn't sure why he's surprised that kiss went so well, it's not like they've been perfectly compatible in practically almost every other aspect of their relationship.

“Likewise, Agent Diabetes.” Totally nailed it.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“What’s going on, Steve? It looks like the three of you were writing up a peace treaty over there,” Natasha asks, flipping some sausages on the grill.

She tells Bucky to turn on the fairy lights they’ve hung around the garden and the whole place lights up. The fresh air is good for Steve, who needs a minute or two to take a breather after what had just happened in there.  
  
“Something like that,” Steve huffs, and he almost wants to say, _we might need one_. He looks back into the living room to notice that the both of them are gone. To say that tonight wasn’t how he had expected his birthday to turn out would be an understatement.  
  
“Sharon took him to my room,” Natasha says, not looking up from the grill. “Sam, can you please bring us some more plates? I think these are ready.”

Steve’s heart sinks a little at the thought of Tony and Sharon upstairs.  
  
“Paper or ceramic?” Sam asks, walking back into the kitchen.  
  
“Uh, I think Lucky tore through our supply of paper cutlery,” Natasha explains. Clint brought his dog along to the party, who was admittedly very cute, but also a handful.   
  
Bucky trails behind him, and Steve can faintly hear him telling Sam that he’d help with washing the dishes. He suddenly remembers Tony’s statement about Bucky’s arm. Looking at it now, it’s covered in charcoal and probably needs a rinse anyway.   
  
“What did they tell you?” Natasha asks.

“They denied it.” _Even though_ _they probably won’t need to anymore_ , Steve thinks to himself.  
  
Her lips twitch into a smile. “Of course they did. Anything else?”  
  
Well, yes, there was the matter of Tony trying to ask him out on a _date_ , which Steve was too bewildered by that he couldn’t bring himself to even address it properly at the time. He’d known there had always been some form of unspoken tension between them like a silent current just humming underneath every interaction they had, but neither of them had ever taken it any further. They never pushed any of it to the surface, even when there were times Steve could’ve sworn they were a beat away from it.

Now, he’s wondering whether it might be too late to uncover anything at all, with Sharon and Tony taking that step ahead of him.

He feels someone poking his shoulder from behind and turns around.

“Got a minute, Cap?” Tony asks, and Steve looks around to find that Natasha has disappeared.

He shrugs and says, “Now’s as good a time as any other, I suppose.”

Tony flashes a wolfish grin. “Perfect.”

They walk over to a quieter part of the garden, where there’s a broken swing hanging from the branch of a tree. Tony looks at it quizzically, trying to tie up the loose rope back onto the wooden seat. He manages it, using a combination of knots and using a rock to smooth out some of the jagged edges on the seat.

“What do you think, did someone die on this thing or did it fall victim to Clint’s kids?” Tony asks, still hunched over as he brushes the dust off his hands.

“Well, there are no signs of blood.”

Tony shoots back up. “Fair point, but Nat would’ve cleaned up the evidence, anyway, so. Death swing. Do you want to sit on it, test it out? See if it can hold 200 pounds of muscle on it. You know, I’m rather small, compared to you, so—”

“I’m not sitting on the swing, Tony. You came here to tell me something?” Steve says, and as much as he loves humoring Tony, he really does want to get back to more important matters.

“Okay, so. Remember how once upon a time I, uh, wanted to ask you out?

Steve smiles, biting his lip. “Hard to forget. How come you never said anything before?”

“How come I—? Wait, so you’re saying you’re not entirely surprised by this development?” Tony shrugs off his grey jacket and tosses it onto the swing. He’s looking at Steve with a skeptical eye, and Steve doesn’t exactly know how to crawl out of this one without flashing his heart open for Tony to see, but maybe that’s exactly what he wants.

“Look, I’m just surprised at the timing, that’s all.” Steve is trying to approach this as coolly as he can, but Tony takes a step closer and pretends to be intrigued.

“Uh-uh. And by that you mean, what, exactly?”

“I mean… we’ve had our moments in the past,” Steve says, dropping his gaze momentarily. Tony squints his eyes at him and takes a quick glance around before lowering his voice.

“Are you talking about Seoul?” Tony asks.

Steve chuckles softly, nodding as he slips his hands in his pockets. “There are a few I could list, but yes, Seoul does come to mind.”

Tony shakes his head. “You were such a tease, Rogers.”

“I was being careful,” Steve says, weakly feigning defensiveness while fully knowing what he did to Tony that night. God, the things Steve  _wanted_ to do to him but couldn’t. It made it all the more frustrating to him the way things turned out after.

“You let me sit on your lap, put my hands all over you, pop open your buttons while I—quit smiling, Steve.” Even Tony’s voice was faltering now and Steve couldn’t help but smile, lips fully sealed as he raised an eyebrow at Tony, daring him to continue.

“You’re unbelievable. You know what, you’re not gonna make me talk about it again, you probably remember that night better than I did.”

They just break into a full-on laugh now, with Tony jokingly trying to swat him with his jacket. Steve manages to grab ahold of it and in an attempt to yank it away from him, pulls Tony in closer. Now that they’d brought up Seoul, it was difficult for Steve not to think about what had happened there.

It was right after Ultron and Tony wanted to visit Helen Cho to talk about some of her research. The other Avengers were either on missions, in training, or otherwise occupied. Tony had convinced Steve that he was in need of a vacation and sure, Steve thought, a weekend trip to South Korea wouldn’t be the most damning thing in the world, especially since him and Tony had been in a particularly good place at the time.

But, with Tony being Tony, things took a couple of weird and wonderful turns during the trip. There was the lavish private jet that they flew on, where Tony had actually been working for a full thirty hours straight the previous day and ended up dozing off on Steve’s lap in the huge sofa he had installed. Tony had always been a little touchy with Steve in the past, but this was another level of intimacy for both of them. It was nice, having Tony sprawled out all over him and purring contentedly, knowing he was comfortable enough to stay there, to stay with Steve in the moment.

Now there was the flipside of their trip to Seoul, where things might have gotten a little out of hand at the huge annual party that Helen’s company threw for the end of the year. Korean liquor, paired with some of Thor’s Asgardian mead that Tony had specifically brought a flask of for Steve, truly made for a whole other experience that night.

_“God, Steve, give me a break. All of these women are just lining up to grab a piece of your ass and you just sit there, with your boy scout smile and send them back on their way?”_

_“Well, none of them have actually tried to grab my ass so far.”_

_“Uh-uh. So you’re telling me you respond better to a more forward approach.”_

_“Sure.”_

_“Okay, so tell me. What does a girl have to do to make you want to take her home? Give me the play by play, you beautiful blonde.”_

_“I don’t know what to tell you, Tony. I don’t have a checklist or anything.”_

_“Fine, then let me do it. Say she takes grabs hold of your tie like this, maybe she’s a little kinky. How’s that?”_

_“I’ll allow it.”_

_“Good, now I’ll scoot on over a little closer. Do you like a little eye-fuck or should I try go for a subtle shoulder pet?”_

_“I’d like to see you try the shoulder pet. Go on.”_

_“Okay, so she’s stroking you here, trailing down to feel those ridiculously thick biceps of yours—”_

_“Not very subtle, now, is it? The only way you could make things less obvious is if you just jumped on top of me. And no, no, Tony, that is not an invitation to—!”_

_“How’s that, Cap?”_

_“You’re on top of me now.”_

_“Indeed I am. Now, maybe we can loosen up this tie, get your hair a little ruffled up—yeah, that’s it, pop open a button or two.”_

_“I can’t believe you’ve turned me into an exhibitionist.”_

_“You haven’t told me to stop.”_

_“Hmm.”_

_“Okay, okay, I think I’m done anyway. You look absolutely wrecked, which is hilarious because I’m the only action you’ve gotten for the night. Why’d I say that as if that’s a bad thing? Rephrase: you should be honored that you have me practically riding you on this sofa tonight. I love that you’re cracking up as much as I am, that’s probably it, isn’t it? You like a girl who makes you laugh?”_

_“There might be one.”_

_“Oh! Do tell, Rogers. Someone from back home?”_

_“Her name’s Sharon, and I’m not telling you anything else about her because then you’d stalk her and tell her a bunch of incriminating things about me.”_

_“I used to know a Sharon once, she was sweet. What could I possibly say to her that would incriminate you in any way, Steve? Fine, I’ll stay hands off on that development but let’s hope she can top this.”_

_“I’ve never met anyone like you, Tony.”_

_“I know, and you never will.”_

The garden suddenly feels a lot quieter, and Steve has noticed that everyone’s moved inside now. He can still see them inside from the transparent door panels and it looks like that they’re getting started on a few party games. He catches a glimpse of Sharon taking a seat next to Rhodey on the sofa, who’s whispering something into her ear. She gives Steve a small smile and a wave. He feels something warm and soft rubbing up against his ankle and jolts forward by instinct. He turns around to find Liho, Natasha’s black cat, purring against him.

“Look, Steve—”

Steve turns to look back at Tony, who’s much closer to his face than he remembered him to be just several moments ago.

“Hmm?”

“I have to tell you something, about Sharon and I. We talked things through just now and even though we haven’t really agreed on anything official, it’s not like that—”

“Did you kiss her?”

“Did I, uhh.” Tony squirms a little, scrambling for the right words to say in the moment.

“Tony. You’re the same guy who literally jumped me in the middle of a crowded party full of people we don’t know to make a point about not throwing away your shot when you have one. Now, I’d be disappointed to hear if you didn’t follow through on your own advice.”

Tony relaxes then, easing into a light chuckle. “You got me, Cap.”

Steve exhales in relief. At least he knows what he knows now. He even feels content for the first time tonight. He’d been actively avoiding them the entire night because of the ‘will they-won’t they’ vibes they’d been giving off. Everything's now settled at the very least.

Well, almost everything. Because when he looks at Tony he can’t help but to feel a want, no, a _need_ for him that he can’t seem to ignore. It’s getting a little chilly outside, with the breeze picking up, and if Steve didn’t know any better he’d think that a storm is coming along. It’s a bit of a shame since there had been fireworks going earlier which seemed to have progressively slowed down.

“We better get back inside,” Steve says.

“I’d still like to ask you out on a date,” Tony blurts out.

“You do?” Steve replies a little too quickly. “But what about—”

“I do, yes. I mean, Sharon’s okay with it. More than okay. She told me that we had to at least try, Steve. Speaking of, you’re not mad or anything about…?”

Steve shakes his head. “It’s not the worst thing we’ve done to each other.”

Tony just laughs, stretching his legs a little and beckoning the cat to come over with his foot. “That’s an understatement.”

“Okay, I’ll go on that date with you,” Steve says decisively. “But if you and Sharon decide that you want to pursue whatever it is you two are doing, then that’s fine with me. Don’t let me get in the way of anything.”

Tony pats him on the cheek, giving it a little pinch for good measure. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Steve just rolls his eyes as they both walk back inside, Liho trailing behind them. Natasha’s broken out the vodka, as Steve notes by the giant, half-emptied bottle in her hand. She stands up and immediately shoves the two of them their own champagne flutes, which seems to be a peachy cocktail of some sort.

“Here you go boys, thought you might need these,” she smiles. “Don’t worry Steve, we put more of the Asgardian-whatever into yours. Shame Thor’s not here to top up our supply, we are running a little bit low.”

“As long as we’re not playing Russian roulette,” Tony says, eyes scanning the room for any signs of anything that could kill them. Well, the amount of alcohol might.

“So did you kiss yet?” Rhodey asks, no subtleties whatsoever, and the room just breaks into a stifled chuckle. Even Nick Fury seems to be sending them pretty strong signals from across the room, with both eyes, if that's even possible. Steve shakes off the thought.

“We’re taking things slow, okay,” Tony announces. “Don’t embarrass the birthday boy.”

“Boo!” Maria yells, bending over from the sofa as she grips the coffee table in front of her with both hands. Dear god, how much of that vodka did Natasha give her, Steve thinks. “You mean to say that it’s Steve’s birthday and no one’s kissed him? You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Come on, we only have a couple of minutes left in the day!”

“I don’t need anyone to kiss me, you guys are all I need, seriously.” Steve tries to calm down the room, but it just gets rowdier from there.

“Count me out as a volunteer,” Nick says.

“Sorry, Steve, you’re not my type,” Rhodey says, giving him a mock-pout.

"Been there, done that," Natasha smirks, crossing one leg over the other as she leans back on the sofa.

Steve just raises his hands in defeat. “Anyone else want a shot at stomping on my ego for the night?”

“God, I can’t watch. It’s just like the 1940s all over again,” Bucky moans, slumping into Sam who gives him a couple of pecks on the cheek repeatedly, while Laura snaps a picture of them on her Polaroid. Sam makes grabby hands at her until she hands it over.

He can feel Tony glancing at him from the corner of his eye, but the two of them are too embarrassed right now to even look at each other, much less kiss in front of this hard-to-please crowd. Eventually, Tony fully turns to look at him, and even though he looks a little pale, he quickly rolls his sleeves up and passes his drink over to Rhodey.

“Hold that for me, will you, darling. Thank you.”

“Yes, your majesty,” Rhodey shakes his head and offers the drink to Sharon instead, who declines. Rhodey shrugs and drinks it down himself.

There’s not much time for Steve to observe anything else, though, as Tony slides his hands onto his chest and up onto his shoulders, tracing his frame down to his arms then back up onto his neck. Everyone starts hooting and clapping and Steve hears a click from that Polaroid again.

“Feel familiar?” Tony says, softly.

“A little,” Steve barely manages, as his heart is racing so fast he doesn’t know what to do apart from drink down his cocktail so quickly he could barely figure out whether it was peach or apricot liqueur. One thing was clear though: it definitely had the Asgardian mead in it.

“I’m gonna kiss you now,” Tony says, as Steve wraps an arm around his waist, the other still holding his now empty glass, “if that’s okay with you.”

“It is,” Steve breathes out, as Tony goes in for the kiss. There’s an overwhelming taste of peach on his lips that Steve knows for a fact is from Sharon’s lip-gloss. Something inside him just goes wild for it. He kisses him again and again until the taste is all gone, and he’s just left with Tony. God, _Tony_. He’s wanted this for so long he doesn’t realize that he’s pulled him in so close their hips are practically slammed together now.

Tony pulls away from the kiss with a decisive last smooch on his lips, and Steve can feel his face practically searing red from the kiss, the mead, Tony’s warm body on his, as he gets it the way he’s finally wanted it after all these years.

He then catches a glimpse of Sharon on the sofa, biting down her bottom lip and looking at him in a way she hasn’t in a long time. If he’d been sober now, he’d probably be able to read into it a lot quicker, but his brain just takes it all in with a sense of curiosity and lust. He hasn't exactly been impervious to her charms either tonight, with the way that white dress hugs her body, and the long V-neck sits just right down her chest. He also thinks about the fact that she'd also kissed Tony earlier tonight, and the thought itself is doing all sorts of things to him and reawakening something he’d thought he’d never feel again for her.

“Jesus, Cap, you’re an animal,” Tony finally says, breaking the tension. Steve immediately notices the half of his shirt that’s now tucked out thanks to Steve’s rather aggressive manhandling.

“But, whatever. It’s your birthday, do whatever you want with me. Happy birthday, you beautiful piece of ass,” Tony says, and everyone follows with a generous chorus of more wishes and a toast to Steve, and his ass (which Tony makes a point of including).

He settles back down on the sofa next to Sharon as Clint’s setting up some elaborate card game Steve is certain they’ll all be too drunk to follow.

“Hi,” is all he can think to say to her at first. Bucky was right, this does feel like the 1940’s all over again.

“Peach was always your favorite,” Sharon coos, lips curving up into a smile.

“You’ve always tasted nice, Sharon. Didn’t realize how much I’ve missed it until just now,” Steve admits. He can never keep his mouth shut when he’s even remotely tipsy, so this probably isn’t going to end well.

She tilts her head to the side, resting it on her arm propped up on the edge of the sofa. “Is that so? Tell me more, Steve Rogers.”

“Well, there is one minute left to midnight,” Steve tells her, pointing at the clock hanging on the wall above the television.

“That’s an interesting observation,” Sharon recalls, still looking up at him with warm eyes. “And what about it?”

It’s not that Sharon’s always liked seeing him beg, but she liked seeing him beg. “Seeing as you and Tony have already kissed tonight, and Tony and I have, well, you saw what happened there. Um, I feel it’s only fair if we, you know, also…?”

That wasn’t at all a coherent proposition, or even a remotely sensible one, considering that everyone else is still in the room, including Tony. But hey, he’s not the one who had already kissed her tonight.

“It’s your birthday,” she says, acting indifferent. “How could I say no?”

“You can very much say no,” Steve laughs, watching the way her eyes crinkle around the edges when she starts finding this just as amusing as he is.

“As long as it won't break Tony's heart too much,” Sharon says, and Steve knows at that moment that this thing between the two of them isn’t going to end tonight and won’t be brushed away as easily as Tony had tried to suggest earlier. He can’t help himself, though, but still want her at this moment.

Maybe it’s her new connection with Tony and the way it brings out something new in her, something that Steve wants to keep seeing more of, wants to keep exploring. He’d thought that when things ended between them he’d never feel that way about her again, and he was right. He feels different now, that sense of curiosity in him is tangled up with both Tony and Sharon and maybe Steve just thinks a little too much when he’s drunk, but maybe this isn’t the kind of thing that gets easily figured out in one night, anyway. Either way, he might as well go for it.

One thing’s certain though, is that when his lips come into contact with hers, and she’s touching him the same way Tony was, hands on both his shoulders, gripping tight—it makes it all the more difficult for him to decide what his heart really wants.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Sharon wakes up in Steve’s arms, covered in a soft blanket on the sofa of Natasha’s living room. The storm had gotten considerably worse throughout the night so everyone ended up staying over, even if Tony did try to convince everyone that he could fly them home with his armor. Rhodey reminded him of the ‘No Flying While Inebriated’ function they both had installed in their suits after an incident a couple of years ago, and thus, everyone’s lives were spared. Sharon tries to slide out of Steve’s arms but doesn’t manage to budge. She then notices Tony cuddling Steve’s waist, head buried in his ribs as he sleeps like a baby.

Throughout her entire life, she’s managed to keep her professional and personal life separate. It was the only way to make a name for herself and earn respect among her peers. Even when she was dating Steve, that relationship wasn’t exactly the most public of affairs and she tried hard to keep it that way. Sometimes, maybe too hard, which may have been a mistake on her part.

It wasn’t until she joined the Avengers did she begin to loosen up a little in that department. Sure, she had her group of people she was close to at S.H.I.E.L.D, but as someone in her position, she couldn’t risk giving up too much of herself or getting too attached to anyone. Even now, watching Nick Fury, the man she’s looked up to all these years, sleeping on a recliner (albeit with two guns on his holsters) in a room full of docile superheroes, reassures her that maybe it’s okay to belong somewhere.

“Sharon,” Natasha whispers from her kitchen countertop. Liho jumps on top of it as she strokes her lovingly. “Want some coffee?”

“I’m good, thanks,” Sharon replies. Her eyes dart over to the two men piled up on top of her as she cocks her head. “A little help?”

Natasha smiles as she grabs one of the six cups of hot coffee she has prepared from the table and kneels down in front of the sofa.

“Tony, Tony, wake up,” she says, as he jolts awake, causing Steve to shift too.

Natasha pets him on the head and hands him the mug of coffee.

“Drink up. We’re heading to the beach soon. Are you two still coming?" 

That question was directed at Sharon as well, but Tony answers before she can respond. “As long as someone else is driving, I’ll give you the keys to my jeep,” he says, followed with a loud groan and as he buries his face in his hands, cursing under his breath.

Tony had vehemently opposed the whole camping idea and no one else seemed invested enough to protest that decision, so. Lazy weekend it is. They also may or may not have drunkenly booked a Montauk beach house during the end of their card game last night, by which point Clint had already had enough of everyone ‘screwing up the game’ (while really, he had been dealing the cards wrong the entire time). Clint is also coincidentally nowhere to be seen in the morning, among a few others who never seemed to make it out alive. She'd been right, the party had been a grueling test of natural selection. 

-

 

Sharon ends up going behind the wheel in one of Tony’s Wranglers, with Natasha driving the other one. During the journey, Tony visibly perks up a lot more after having a quick bite and a couple more cups of coffee, while Steve is just—Steve, the usual. He sits in the passenger’s seat next to her in front and talks to her about what she’s been up to lately, since they haven’t really gotten a chance to catch up all that much outside missions. Most of her day-to-day stories increasingly involve Tony, she realizes as she starts telling them: the trip to Paris with Tony for the charity gala, the new prototype catsuit that Tony’s working on for her, the week-long conference with the UN and the military and oh, she also visited her father back in Virginia last month, so that was something for variation. 

“Tony, you sure you still want me to go on that date with you? Because you two seem like you’re having such a fantastic time already,” Steve turns around to face Tony in the backseat, and even though Sharon’s eyes are still on the road, she knows that he’s giving Tony  _those_  eyes.

“Someone’s getting jealous,” Sharon says, and okay, she knows she deserves what’s coming next. She just can’t help herself sometimes.

“Excuse me, Ms. Carter?” Steve chides, in his full-on Captain America voice.

“Did I hear that correctly, because it sounds like you mentioned jealousy, which can be best described by the following scenario: I ask out Captain Handsome on a date because, um, you tell me to, and I kiss him because everyone in the room was telling me to, and not a mere five minutes later, I see you sucking the soul out of his face, Miss Sharon Carter, would you care to explain yourself?” Tony says, leaning forwards between the two of them.

Steve’s smiling into his hand with the other folded under his elbow, shakes his head and says, “You’re in trouble now. I’m sorry, I misread the situation. I was under the impression that you could do no wrong in Tony’s eyes.”

“Steve, Steve, when it comes to doing me wrong, you’re not one to talk—” Tony starts.

“Okay, I get it, Tony. From now on, we’ll pay more attention to you,” Steve says sweetly, brushing a hand under Tony’s jaw.

Sharon can practically see the blush shooting up to his face, she doesn't even need to turn to look.

 

-

 

The beach house is set in a nice, quiet part of the small town, covered with a lush forest behind it and easy access to the ocean right in front. Montauk’s technically part of East Hamptons, but it’s definitely a place with a lot of independent character of its own. It’s calmer and a little rougher around the edges, with a longstanding fishing community, for example, and a whole lot of history behind it. 

In a lot of ways, it reminds Sharon of Steve, silly as it sounds. Having gotten to know him over the years, she’s gotten used to this Steve, 21st century Steve, racing to catch up on time—and, boy, is he fast—sometimes even being pulled further ahead by Futurist Tony Stark. Sometimes, it just hits her, though, how long he’s been here and how much history he has beneath that wary smile of his. She sees it in his eyes, sometimes, when he’s looking out at parts of New York and searching, scanning for something to call his own. She never knows if he ever finds what he’s looking for.

She picks up a leaflet on the porch as everyone else is bolting down to the beach. She hears Steve coming up from behind her. 

“What’s that?” Steve asks over her shoulder, and being this close to him reminds Sharon of his sheer size sometimes. He reaches over to adjust the angle of the leaflet in her hand, brushing against her arm.

“Just an ad for a fair in town,” Sharon shrugs.

“Should we go?” Steve lights up, and the more Sharon thinks about it the more she realizes that this kind of thing is very much up his alley. “I mean, it won’t take long and we can get some food for the others.”

Huh. Seems like Tony’s habits for generous providing has rubbed off on Steve, which is really sweet, actually. Sharon readily agrees. Walking around the fair with Steve feels like old times again. 

“You look happy,” Steve suddenly says, as they wait in front of the burger stall for their order. “With the Avengers, I mean. I know it was a bit of a mess when you first joined, I can imagine it wasn’t always this easy.”

“Well, it wasn’t always parties and beach trips every week,” Sharon smiles, which was putting it nicely.

“A lot of them didn’t trust me in the beginning, including Tony. I didn’t take it personally, of course, just another role to play in my line of work.”

“Is it still a role, though?” Steve says, brows furrowing.

“No,” she easily admits.

Steve nods, digging deeper. “How’d you get close, then? If he didn’t trust you at first.”

The answer was simple. “Berlin. It was the botched recon job that got me kidnapped,” Sharon explains and can see Steve’s face twisting into something else. She hasn’t explicitly discussed this story with him yet, even though she knows for a fact that he’s definitely read the case files.

“Long story short, Tony got me out, and I was so stunned I couldn’t bring myself to react, at all. It was just, ‘okay, let’s get out of here’ and I even made us go back in there to finish the job. I don’t think I even thanked him properly that day. Back to business, you know? He kept checking on me every day after that for a week until I started talking to him. It really wasn’t as bad as it sounds, but Tony was just so determined to be there. He just had to be there, no matter what I did.”

“Sounds like Tony, alright,” Steve tries to smile, but Sharon can see where the lines crack and gently strokes his cheek to take away a bit of the tension.

 

-

 

They get back to the beach with just over an hour left before sunset. Her and Sam team-up for a couple rounds of volleyball against Bucky because, well, metal arm and super-soldier is one hell of handicap. It doesn’t take long for the volleyball to reach the end of its lifespan, and when it deflates and sinks into the sand, Bucky makes the saddest face Sharon’s ever seen.

Sharon decides to go out for a swim to clear her head and enjoy the waters before it gets dark. Her peace gets interrupted when she sees Natasha paddling towards her in her red bikini.

“You know, I’ve never seen those two this emotionally stable. It’s always been watching them try to fuck each other or kill each other. I like it better this way,” she says, pointing over at Steve and Tony drying off in the sand, trying to whip each other with their towels simultaneously. Bucky comes in and hurls a football at Steve’s head, which results in Tony trying to full-on tackle him into the ground.

“I didn’t say mature,” Natasha adds, squinting at them. She turns back to Sharon and smiles. “What’s on your mind, Agent?”

As much as Sharon loves Natasha, Steve was right. She does love to gossip.

“I’ve got reports of a possible bio-weapon shipment coming into Ukraine sometime next week and I’ve been trying to organize the squad units,” Sharon answers, which is true, because she doesn’t know when Tony and Steve are going on their date, so they don’t end up charging forward without two of their heavy hitters. Natasha immediately splashes water at her face. 

“Bullshit, Sharon, you can lie to everyone here but me,” Natasha says. “Fellow spy, remember?”

Truth is, even though she and Natasha go way back, she’s never really been comfortable about talking to her about these things. Maybe it's her sense of pride getting in the way, or the fact that while Natasha seems more akin to a free agent making up her own rules as she goes along, Sharon’s a commander at heart, and she can never shake off the pressures of claiming responsibility for who she gets involved with.

At the same time, though, Tony has been baring his soul to her these past few months while she helped him navigate his feelings for Steve, and it was like the equivalent of performing open-heart surgery. Maybe a part of her had always been jealous about how open and vulnerable he was willing to be just to navigate through his own emotions. Or, more likely, she was just scared to be cut open like that.

“Sometimes it’s not that deep, Sharon," Natasha says as if she's been reading her mind this entire time. 

 

-

 

Sharon throws on a white lace cover-up over her black bikini and heads over to the master bedroom on the top floor where, surely, she finds Tony and Steve out on the balcony in the middle of having a discussion. Her hair is still dripping wet with seawater, as much as she's tried to dry it off with a towel beforehand. It feels serious in the room, but not serious enough that they both can’t help but smile when they turn around and look at her. 

“Darling, we’ve missed you, come on over here,” Tony says, beckoning her to come and join them. 

“Scheduled a meeting without me?” Sharon says, easing into Tony’s arms behind her as he gives her a peck on the cheek. After last night, it’s no longer a secret that Sharon’s no longer immune to Tony’s physical displays of affection, as frequent and as harmless as they were before. She brings over her hair to one side and tilts her neck up to give him better access.

“On the contrary, you’ve arrived at exactly the right time,” she feels Tony breathing against her neck, his nose just barely brushing against her skin.

She watches Steve watching them as he’s leaning on the balcony railings in front of them, piercing blue eyes glinting in the moonlight. Tony starts kissing her neck now, and god, she hadn’t realized that he had wanted her  _this_  much—not even last night. Steve inhales sharply and watches even more intensely, and Sharon can tell he’s itching to make a move.

“So…” Sharon exhales, gripping on the railing with her left hand now as Tony has a tighter grip around her waist. She tries to keep her eyes on Steve, “What’s our status report?”

“Complicated,” Steve grinds out, and the look on his face right now is just flushed with desire, with a visceral need for the both of them right now, Sharon almost can’t take it anymore.

Tony barks out a laugh from behind her, slows down on the kisses and gently turns her around to face him. “Steve and I both agreed that we didn’t want each other without you.”

“We didn’t want to be presumptuous, though,” Steve cuts in, playing with her hair from behind, “and assume that you… wanted the same thing.” 

Natasha’s words are ringing in her head,  _Sometimes it’s not that deep, Sharon_ , but she knows that’s not true: not with her and Steve, or with her and Tony, and especially not with Steve and Tony. All three of them would dive headfirst into the bottom of the ocean for the people they loved and god, did she love them.

“Assume away,” is all she can think of to say right now, as she carefully unbuttons Tony’s Hawaiian shirt, exposing the network of scars and veins on his flesh underneath. She looks up at him, but he brings her hands to his chest and lets her feel every inch of him for herself.

It’s a strange feeling, exploring Tony, new and untouched by her, all the while Steve’s familiar hands are moving in old rhythms across her body. His hands are under the lace mesh and as they work their way up to cup her breasts, gently slipping a finger through to stroke her nipples. Sharon just tips her head back and leans into him instinctively, while tugging on the waistband of Tony’s shorts to drag him forwards. 

If she had completely given herself to Steve, then she’d probably let him strip off all her clothes, right on this balcony, right in front of this beach in front of god knows who’s watching—but tonight wasn’t just about the two of them. 

“Would you look at that,” Tony suddenly says, and Steve and Sharon perk up. Tony points to a shooting star in the sky, blazing across the night. Sharon squints at it and watches it as it slows down at the end, like something running out of fuel, as it blips in bizarre, erratic patterns.

“Tony, are comets supposed to do that?” Steve asks, hands dropping from Sharon’s body. She doesn’t exactly have time to mourn the loss, either.

He thinks about it for a moment. “Uhh, not exactly. They usually don’t change directions either.”

Tony’s right about it changing directions. Sharon can see the speck of light growing bigger by the second as if it’s slowly inching its way towards them, as a cluster of them start appearing behind the first one. Sharon puts her hands on Tony’s chest again, this time, tapping on the reactor in the center.

“Tell me your nanotech’s good to go,” she says, remembering the months of testing they’ve been going through together. He’s never had to use it on the field yet, until tonight.

“Please don’t be an alien invasion, please, please—” Tony whines, activating the brand new Bleeding Edge suit. Steve and Sharon watch as it covers his entire body, a beautiful network of nanobots layering over every inch of his skin. It’s like watching something come to life. "Literally the worst time for an alien invasion."

“We’ll get our gear from the car. If you wanna fly up and take a closer look in the meantime—” Steve says.

“I’ll make sure Sam and Rhodey go up there with you,” Sharon adds. 

“Oh, okay, I get to lead the alien patrol job,” Tony says, firing up his thrusters.

“We've got your back, just be careful.” Steve grabs ahold of him before he takes off, leans in to kiss the faceplate and, what the hell, Sharon goes for it too on the other side. Iron Man’s eyes light up, and there's a short pause for a second.

“If this is some secret kink you two have been harboring, we’re all going to be having words,” he finally says, before shooting up into the sky towards the direction of the UFOs. Steve jumps over the balcony in one ridiculous display of parkour and yells at Sharon to follow suit.

“I’ll catch you!” 

Before she knows it, she’s climbing up the railings, ready to jump. All things considered, it’s not nearly the most impulsive decision she’s made in the last twenty-four hours, and everything’s worked out more than all right so far.

 


End file.
